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Kenny Roberts Jr
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Kenneth Lee Roberts Jr born on July 25th, 1973 in Mountain View, California is an excellent American motorcycle road racer. Kenneth Lee, also known as Kenny Roberts has won the 500cc world Championship title in 2000. His father Kenny Roberts Sr, the triple world champion in 500cc class had won back to back in 1978, 1979 and 1980. Thus they achieved the distinction of being the only father-son duo to have won the World Championship titles in 500cc class.
Kenny Roberts inspired by his father kick-started his racing career at an early age. He made his debut in 250cc class in 1990 and finished the season with five race wins. He later appeared in 1994 and 1995 season as well racing for Marlboro-Yamaha team.
Moving into 500cc class World Championship events in 1996 he finished 13th racing for Yamaha team. As the contract with Yamaha ended, Kenny moved to Team Roberts run by his father and appearing in 1997 and 1998 racing events he finished 16th and 13th respectively.
In 1999, Kenny Roberts racing for Suzuki team made a brilliant start taking wins and lead positions in early races. But as he failed to maintain consistency he finished 2nd place in season's Championship. Bouncing back into the 2000 season with renewed energy, Kenny Roberts went on to finish five podium positions with four race wins from 16 races. At the end of the season, Kenny finally won his first World Championship title. With that win, Kenny Roberts riding a Suzuki has also ended the six-year reign of Honda's Championship wins. In 2001, it was Valentino Rossi, who dominated the entire series and clinched the title from Roberts, who finished a poor 11th in championship positions.
Regulations changed in 2002 enhancing the MotoGP championship from 500cc to 990cc. Struggling in the new setup Kenny Roberts finished with only two podium positions during his racing years from 2002 to 2005. Year 2005 also marked the end of Kenny's contract with Suzuki. Kenny again returned to his father's fold - Team Roberts.
Riding Honda KR211V in 2006 MotoGP season, Kenny Roberts found his magical touch and displayed his brilliant performance on tracks finishing 6th in the overall standings - his next best after 2000 Championship win.
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